72 Gilpin's foeest soeneey. 



stem is very picturesque. It is smooth, and of a 

 light ash., colour, and lias the propei'ty of throw- 

 ing off its bark in scales — thus naturally cleansing' 

 itself, at least its larger boughs, from moss, and 

 other parasitical incumbrances. This would be 

 no recommendation of it in a picturesque light, 

 if the removal of these incumbrances did not sub- 

 stitute as great a beauty in their room. These 

 scales are very irregular, falling off sometimes in 

 one part and sometimes in another : and as the 

 under-bark, immediately after its excoriation, is 

 of a lighter hue than the upper, it offers to the 

 pencil those smart touches which have so much 

 effect in painting. These flakes, however, would 

 be more beautiful, if they fell off more in semi- 

 circular laminas. They would correspond and 

 unite better with the circular form of the bole. 



No tree forms a more pleasing shade than the 

 Occidental Plane. It is full-leafed, and its leaf 

 is large, smooth, of a fine texture, and seldom 

 injured by insects. Its lower branches, shooting 

 horizontally, soon take a direction to the ground ; 

 and the spray seems more sedulous than that of 

 any tree we have, by twisting about in various 



